Hair Salon Assistant Manager Job Description Templates
6 templates for salon owners promoting from within: standard, working stylist, front desk lead, multi-location, quick service, and salon plus spa. With the tip and overtime answers built in. Download as DOCX.
The first assistant manager job description most salon owners write is a copy of their manager posting with a few duties crossed out. It is the wrong document, and the reason has nothing to do with wording. An assistant manager in a hair salon sits on the exact line where two different federal tests give two different answers about the same person, and a posting that ignores that line creates a problem you inherit on payday.
Here is the line. To be exempt from overtime, a position has to clear a salary floor of $684 a week plus a full duties test. Almost no salon assistant manager clears it, so the role is hourly and overtime-eligible. But the federal definition of a manager or supervisor for tip purposes uses the same duties test with the salary part removed. The same hourly employee you correctly pay time and a half can be a supervisor who is barred from the tip pool.
At FirstHR we write hiring templates for owners who are also the HR department, and salons are the clearest case of that. The six below cover a standard commission salon, a working stylist version, a front desk lead, a multi-location group, a quick-service bar, and a combined salon and spa, each with the tip, overtime, and license answers written into the document.
TL;DR
A hair salon assistant manager runs the floor, the book, and the close, while the manager owns hiring and the budget. The role is almost always hourly and non-exempt: the executive exemption needs $684 a week plus a duties test. The federal tip definition drops the salary test, so the same person often cannot share the tip pool.
What a Hair Salon Assistant Manager Actually Is
An assistant manager owns the day, and the salon manager owns the business. That single sentence sorts most of the confusion. The assistant runs the floor, the appointment book, retail, client recovery, and the open and close, working inside limits somebody else set.
The reason this matters more in salons than in most small businesses is that the title tends to arrive by accretion. A senior stylist starts checking color formulas, then starts assigning the shampoo assistants, then starts running Saturdays. Nobody wrote a job description, and now the role exists.
Salon Manager
Owns the outcome
Hires, fires, sets pay and hours, owns the profit and loss, and answers to the owner. Frequently the owner’s only management hire. If the person you are describing decides who works here, you are writing a manager posting, not this one.
Assistant Manager
Owns the day
Runs the floor, holds a key, covers the manager’s days off, and carries real authority over the shift without owning the budget or the roster. Almost always hourly and non-exempt, and almost always still touching clients.
Lead or Senior Stylist
Owns the craft
Mentors juniors, checks color formulas, and sets the technical bar, but does not run the schedule or the money. A senior stylist who trains others is not automatically a supervisor, and the difference matters for tips.
Front Desk Coordinator
Owns the book
Books, confirms, greets, checks out, and sells retail. Promote a strong coordinator and you get a front desk lead. Give that lead the schedule and the shift, and you have created an assistant manager whether you renamed the role or not.
Two Questions Decide Which Template You Need
First: does this person provide services to clients, or not? That decides the license requirement and whether they keep tips from their own chair. Second: do they direct the work of two or more people and carry weight in hiring decisions? That decides whether they are a supervisor under the federal tip rules, regardless of how they are paid. Answer both before you write a word of the posting, because the answers change the document rather than decorate it.
What Belongs in the Posting
A salon assistant manager posting has to do four jobs: describe the floor honestly, filter out people who cannot hold a shift, state the classification and tip answer so you are not renegotiating them later, and make the money legible enough to close a working stylist. Most postings do only the first.
What candidates read first
Salon size in chairs and daily guest count
Who this person reports to and who reports to them
The service mix: color, cutting, extensions, quick service
Hours, weekend expectation, and shift pattern
What filters applicants
Key holder and opening or closing requirement
Whether a cosmetology license is required
Years leading a shift, stated as a number
Comfort with your booking and point of sale system
What protects you
FLSA classification written on the posting
Tip pool participation answered before you hire
Essential functions stated plainly
Equal opportunity statement
What closes the hire
Hourly rate or range, in the posting
How bonus, retail commission, and tips actually work
Chair time retained, if this is a working role
The path to salon manager and what it takes
The most common omission is the weekend expectation. Salons make their money Thursday through Saturday, and a candidate who cannot work those days is not a candidate. Say it in the first third of the posting. Our guide to writing a job description covers the general structure, and the rest of the hiring library lives in the hiring templates hub.
6 Hair Salon Assistant Manager Job Description Templates
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: salon overview, position summary, key responsibilities, required qualifications, a pay and classification note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you rewrite.
Download All 6 Assistant Manager Job Description Templates
Standard salon, working stylist, front desk lead, multi-location, quick service, and salon plus spa. All in one download.
Hair Salon Assistant Manager
The standard version
The general commission-salon role: floor supervision, the book, retail, key holder duties, and a classification note written for an hourly assistant manager.
Working Assistant Manager
Still behind the chair
For a stylist moving into leadership without giving up clients, with the hour split, the two pay rates, and the tip answer spelled out in writing.
Front Desk Lead
Front of house
For the coordinator you are promoting: the book, the phone, retail, and the honest test of whether the role has become supervisory.
Multi-Location Group
Covers several salons
For a small salon group, with site coverage, paid travel time between locations, and the exemption test applied to a role that may actually clear it.
Blow Dry Bar or Quick Service
Volume and timing
For a timed-service model: station assignments, the wait list, the tip payout process, and the overtime exposure that comes with peak weekends.
Salon and Spa
Several license types
For hair alongside nails, esthetics, or massage, with cross-department scheduling and a license renewal tracker built into the responsibilities.
Template 1: Hair Salon Assistant Manager (Standard)
The general commission-salon version: floor supervision, the book, retail, key holder duties, and a classification note written for an hourly assistant manager. Start here if you are unsure.
Hair Salon Assistant Manager Job Description
HAIR SALON ASSISTANT MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION
Salon: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Salon Manager / Owner]
Direct reports: [number] stylists, [number] assistants, [number] front desk
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: Non-exempt (hourly, overtime past 40 hours in a week)
Tip status: [Participates in the tip pool / Does not participate: see tip note]
Pay: $_ per hour, plus [bonus / retail commission]
ABOUT [SALON NAME]
[Salon Name] is a [number] chair salon in [City, State] doing [color work /
cutting / extensions / a full-service mix] for about [number] clients a week. We
are hiring an Assistant Manager to run the floor alongside our Salon Manager and
to own the day when the manager is off.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Assistant Manager keeps the schedule full and the floor moving: booking and
rebooking, greeting and recovering clients, watching turnaround times, holding
the team to sanitation standards, running retail and inventory, and opening or
closing the building.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Open and close the salon as a key holder on [number] shifts per week
•Manage the day's book: fill gaps, handle no-shows, rebalance walk-ins
•Greet, check out, and recover unhappy clients before they leave
•Supervise [number] stylists and assistants on shift and assign side work
•Run retail: displays, back bar and shelf stock, counts, reorders
•Enforce state board sanitation and the salon's own cleaning schedule
•Approve time off and shift swaps within the manager's rules
•Verify hours in the timekeeping system before payroll close
•Train new hires on our booking system, the front desk, and salon standards
•Report weekly numbers to the manager: rebook rate, retail per ticket,
prebooked hours, product usage
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years in a salon, spa, or service business, with [number] leading a
shift or a team
•Comfort with our booking and point of sale system
•Clear, calm communication with clients and stylists
•Availability for [evenings / Saturdays], which is when the book is full
•[Cosmetology license: required only if this role provides services]
PAY, TIPS, AND CLASSIFICATION NOTE (read before posting)
This role is classified non-exempt: hourly, with overtime past 40 hours in a
workweek. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the executive exemption requires a
salary of at least $684 per week plus the full duties test, and this position
does not meet both.
Tips are a separate question with a separate test. Federal rules bar managers and
supervisors from keeping tips out of a tip pool, and the definition of manager or
supervisor there is a duties test with no salary floor, so a non-exempt assistant
manager can still be a supervisor for tip purposes. Decide before you post
whether this role is in the tip pool, write it into the posting, and confirm the
answer for your salon. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Salon Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
HOW TO APPLY
Email __ with your resume and your weekly availability, or
stop by and ask for [name].
Template 2: Working Assistant Manager, Behind the Chair
For a stylist stepping into leadership without giving up clients, with the hour split, the two pay rates, and the tip answer written down. Pair it with the hair stylist job description if you are also backfilling the chair.
Working Assistant Manager, Stylist Behind the Chair
WORKING ASSISTANT MANAGER (STYLIST) JOB DESCRIPTION
Salon: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Salon Manager / Owner]
Employment type: Full-time, split between the chair and the floor
Split: about [number] hours per week behind the chair, [number] on management
FLSA status: Non-exempt (hourly, overtime past 40 hours in a week)
Tip status: Keeps tips from own clients. [In / Out of] the salon tip pool.
Pay: $_ per hour or [commission] on services, plus $_ per hour or
a $_ stipend for management hours
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Salon Name] is looking for a stylist who wants a leadership track without
giving up the chair. You will keep a reduced book of your own clients and take
on the floor management our manager cannot cover alone.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Working Assistant Manager provides hair services to a personal client book
and supervises the floor for the remaining hours: scheduling, standards,
coaching, and opening or closing.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Behind the chair (about [number] hours per week)
•Deliver [cutting / color / treatment] services to a personal client book
•Rebook clients and recommend retail
On the floor (about [number] hours per week)
•Lead the shift: assignments, breaks, turnaround, walk-in coverage
•Coach junior stylists and assistants on technique and client handling
•Run the opening and closing checklists as a key holder
•Handle client recovery, redo policy, and refunds within your limit
•Track inventory and place [back bar / retail] orders
•Verify the team's hours before payroll close
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Current [state] cosmetology license in good standing (required: this role
provides services)
•[Number] years behind the chair with an established client following
•Willingness to hand off part of your book to protect management hours
•Availability [evenings and Saturdays]
PAY, TIPS, AND CLASSIFICATION NOTE (read before posting)
Split roles are where salons get into trouble. Two rules to settle in writing
before the first shift.
1. Overtime. Hours behind the chair and hours on the floor are all hours worked.
They add together for the 40 hour overtime threshold. If pay is part
commission and part hourly, the overtime rate is built on the regular rate for
that week, not on the hourly piece alone.
2. Tips. Under federal rules a manager or supervisor may keep tips received
directly from a client for a service the manager or supervisor directly and
solely provides. That covers this person's own clients. The same rules bar
managers and supervisors from taking a share out of a tip pool, and the
primary duty question is judged on the job as a whole rather than shift by
shift, so working a service-only day does not open the pool back up.
Write the split, the two pay rates, and the tip answer into the offer letter.
Confirm the outcome for your salon. This is general information, not legal
advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Salon Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
HOW TO APPLY
Email __ with your resume, your portfolio, and the
services you want to keep doing.
Still Using Spreadsheets for Onboarding?
Automate documents, training assignments, task management, and track onboarding progress in real time.
For the coordinator you are promoting into the floor. If the role is not supervisory yet, the salon receptionist templates are the better fit.
Front Desk Lead / Assistant Manager (Front of House)
FRONT DESK LEAD / ASSISTANT MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION
Salon: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Salon Manager / Owner]
Employment type: [Full-time / Part-time]
FLSA status: Non-exempt (hourly, overtime past 40 hours in a week)
Tip status: [In / Out of] the tip pool: settle this before posting
Pay: $_ per hour, plus [retail commission / booking bonus]
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Salon Name] runs [number] chairs and about [number] appointments a day. The
front desk is where the money is either made or lost, and we want someone to own
it: the book, the phone, the retail wall, and the guest experience from door to
checkout.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Front Desk Lead owns the appointment book and the guest experience,
supervises the reception team, and steps up as Assistant Manager when the salon
manager is out.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Own the book: booking, confirmations, cancellations, waitlist, gap filling
•Answer the phone and [our messaging channel] within our response standard
•Greet every guest, run checkout, and handle the redo and refund policy
•Supervise [number] front desk coordinators and set the desk schedule
•Drive retail: displays, product knowledge, attachment rate at checkout
•Maintain client records, notes, and formula history in [system]
•Track and report weekly on rebook rate, retail per ticket, and no-shows
•Open or close the salon as a key holder [number] shifts per week
•Cover the manager's floor duties on [her / his / their] days off
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years at a salon, spa, hotel, or restaurant front desk
•Confidence on the phone and with an unhappy guest standing in front of you
•Comfort with [booking system] and basic reporting
•Availability [Saturdays and two evenings]
•No cosmetology license required for this role
PREFERRED
•Retail selling experience
•Prior lead or key holder experience
PAY, TIPS, AND CLASSIFICATION NOTE
Non-exempt and hourly. Track all hours, including phone and book work done
before the doors open. Whether this role can share in a tip pool depends on
whether the duties reach the federal definition of a manager or supervisor:
management as the primary duty, regularly directing two or more employees, and
real weight in hiring decisions. A front desk lead who books, greets, and sells
but does not direct the team is usually not a supervisor for that purpose. A
front desk lead who runs the shift and the schedule often is. Decide honestly
and document it. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Salon Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
HOW TO APPLY
Email __ with your resume and your availability.
Template 4: Assistant Manager, Multi-Location Salon Group
For a small group of salons, with site coverage, paid travel time between locations, and the exemption test applied to a role that may genuinely clear it.
Assistant Manager, Multi-Location Salon Group
ASSISTANT MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION (MULTI-LOCATION SALON GROUP)
Company: __ ([City, State])
Location: [Home salon], with coverage across [number] locations
Reports to: [Area Manager / Director of Operations / Owner]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: Non-exempt unless the full executive exemption is met (see note)
Pay: $_ per [hour / year], plus [location bonus], plus mileage
ABOUT [COMPANY NAME]
[Company Name] operates [number] salons across [area]. We are hiring an
Assistant Manager based at [home salon] who can also cover [number] nearby
locations when a manager is out, a build-out opens, or a team needs rebuilding.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Assistant Manager runs the home salon's floor day to day and acts as the
first line of coverage across the group, carrying our standards, systems, and
onboarding process from one location to the next.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Run the floor at [home salon]: schedule, standards, client recovery, retail
•Cover [number] other locations on [manager days off / vacations / openings]
•Onboard new stylists and coordinators to the same checklist at every site
•Audit each location against our sanitation and state board standards
•Keep the retail count, back bar par levels, and ordering consistent group wide
•Report weekly on rebook rate, retail per ticket, and payroll hours by site
•Escalate staffing gaps and equipment issues to the area manager
•Support hiring: screen applicants, book working interviews, give input on offers
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years leading a salon, spa, or multi-unit service team
•Reliable transportation and a valid driver's license for site coverage
•Comfort with [booking system] reporting across locations
•[Cosmetology license: required only if this role provides services]
PAY, TRAVEL, AND CLASSIFICATION NOTE
Two things multi-location roles get wrong.
Travel time. Time spent traveling between locations once the shift has started is
hours worked and is paid. The ordinary commute from home to the first site and
back from the last one is not. Set a mileage rate and write it down.
Classification. A multi-site assistant manager is more likely than a
single-salon one to satisfy the executive exemption, but it still takes all four
parts: a salary of at least $684 per week, management as the primary duty,
customarily and regularly directing two or more employees, and genuine weight in
hiring and firing. Missing one part means non-exempt and overtime. Separately,
anyone who meets the duties portion is a manager or supervisor for federal tip
purposes even when paid hourly, which affects tip pool participation. Confirm
both answers for your group. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
HOW TO APPLY
Email __ with your resume and the locations you can cover.
Template 5: Assistant Manager, Blow Dry Bar or Quick-Service Salon
For a timed-service model where volume is the business: station assignments, the wait list, the tip payout process, and heavy peak-weekend overtime exposure.
Assistant Manager, Blow Dry Bar or Quick-Service Hair Salon
ASSISTANT MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION (BLOW DRY BAR / QUICK-SERVICE SALON)
Salon: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Salon Manager / Owner]
Employment type: [Full-time / Part-time]
FLSA status: Non-exempt (hourly, overtime past 40 hours in a week)
Tip status: [In / Out of] the tip pool: settle this before posting
Pay: $_ per hour, plus [shift bonus]
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Salon Name] runs [number] styling stations on a [45 / 60] minute service model
with [number] guests a day at peak. Volume and timing are the whole business.
We are hiring an Assistant Manager to keep the floor on time and the guests
moving.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Assistant Manager runs the shift: station assignments, service timing, wait
management, guest recovery, and the opening and closing routine, so the team
hits its service window every time.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Assign stations and manage the flow so services stay inside the time window
•Manage the wait list and set honest expectations with waiting guests
•Watch service quality and step in on a redo before the guest leaves
•Supervise [number] stylists and [number] coordinators on shift
•Keep back bar product stocked and towels and capes in rotation
•Run the opening and closing checklist as a key holder
•Handle the cash drawer, tip payout process, and end of day close
•Report shift numbers: guests served, average service time, retail attachment
•Train new stylists on our service standard and timing
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years in a high-volume salon, spa, restaurant, or retail environment
•Ability to stay calm and direct when the floor is behind
•Availability on [Fridays, Saturdays, and event weekends], our busiest times
•[Cosmetology license: required only if this role provides services]
PAY, TIPS, AND CLASSIFICATION NOTE
Quick-service salons run heavy tip volume and heavy overtime risk, so both rules
matter here.
Overtime. Non-exempt and hourly. Peak weekends push past 40 hours quickly. Track
every hour, including pre-open setup and post-close cleaning, and pay overtime.
Tips. Federal rules bar managers and supervisors from taking a share out of a
tip pool, and the test for who counts is a duties test with no salary floor. A
shift-running assistant manager frequently meets it. If your tip pool has been
including this role by habit, review it before you post the job, because
changing the answer after someone is hired is harder than deciding it now.
Confirm the outcome for your salon. This is general information, not legal
advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Salon Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
HOW TO APPLY
Email __ with your resume and your weekend availability.
Template 6: Assistant Manager, Salon and Spa
For hair alongside nails, esthetics, or massage, with cross-department scheduling and license renewal tracking in the responsibilities. The cosmetologist templates cover the service providers underneath it.
Assistant Manager, Salon and Spa (Hair, Nails, Esthetics)
FLSA status: Non-exempt (hourly, overtime past 40 hours in a week)
Pay: $_ per hour, plus [retail commission / bonus]
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Business Name] runs hair alongside [nails / esthetics / massage] under one
roof, which means several license types, several product lines, and several
service clocks running at once. We are hiring an Assistant Manager who can hold
all of it together on a busy Saturday.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Assistant Manager coordinates the daily schedule across departments, keeps
every license and sanitation requirement current, supports the department leads,
and runs the building when the manager is off.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Coordinate the day's book across [hair, nails, esthetics] so rooms and
stations are not double booked
•Support [number] department leads and supervise the front desk team
•Track license expiration dates for every service provider and flag renewals
•Enforce sanitation and disinfection standards for each discipline
•Manage retail and professional product across [number] product lines
•Handle client recovery, package and membership questions, and gift cards
•Run opening and closing as a key holder [number] shifts per week
•Onboard new service providers: license verification, systems, standards,
safety data sheets, and our service standards
•Report weekly on utilization by department and retail per ticket
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years in a salon, spa, or medical spa with more than one service line
•Detail orientation strong enough to run a license and renewal tracker
•Comfort with [booking system] across multiple providers and rooms
•Availability [Saturdays and evenings]
•[Cosmetology or esthetics license: required only if this role provides
services]
COMPLIANCE AND CLASSIFICATION NOTE
Multi-discipline businesses carry more license surface than a hair-only salon.
Each discipline has its own state board credential, its own sanitation standard,
and often its own establishment license, and an expired credential on one
provider is a problem for the whole business. Track expiration dates against
each employee record rather than in a drawer.
Classification: non-exempt and hourly unless the position clears all four parts
of the executive exemption, including the $684 per week salary floor. Note that
an employee can be non-exempt for overtime and still count as a manager or
supervisor under the federal tip rules, because the tip definition uses the
duties test without the salary requirement. Verify both with your state board and
qualified advisors. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Business Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
HOW TO APPLY
Email __ with your resume and the departments you have
worked across.
The Tip Rule Salons Get Wrong
Managers and supervisors may not take a share out of a tip pool, and the test for who counts as one has no salary floor. That is the whole issue in two sentences, and it is why an assistant manager who is correctly paid hourly with overtime can still be barred from the pool.
The Fair Labor Standards Act was amended in 2018 to bar employers from keeping employee tips for any purpose, including allowing managers or supervisors to keep any portion, whether or not a tip credit is taken. The Department of Labor page on tip regulations under the FLSA is the primary source, and the regulation on tips as the property of the employee holds the definition that does the damage.
An employer cannot keep employee tips, and that includes managers
Since the Fair Labor Standards Act was amended in 2018, an employer may not keep tips received by its employees for any purpose, including allowing managers or supervisors to keep any portion of employees’ tips, whether or not the employer takes a tip credit. The implementing regulation goes further and bars an employer from requiring employees to share tips with managers or supervisors at all, and separately bars managers and supervisors from receiving tips out of a tip pool. For a salon this is not a technicality. If your assistant manager has been quietly cut into the weekly pool because they help at the shampoo bowl, that arrangement is the exposure, and it is the one a wage claim finds first.
The definition of supervisor here has no salary floor
For tip purposes, a manager or supervisor is any employee whose duties match the executive employee description in the federal regulations: management as the primary duty, customarily and regularly directing the work of two or more other employees, and authority to hire or fire or recommendations on hiring and firing that carry particular weight. That cross-reference deliberately skips the salary requirement. So an hourly assistant manager who is non-exempt for overtime, and who you correctly pay time and a half, can still be a supervisor who cannot share the tip pool. Two different tests, two different answers, one employee.
Their own clients are a different case
The regulation says a manager or supervisor may keep tips they receive directly from a customer based on the service they directly and solely provide. A working assistant manager who colors a client’s hair start to finish keeps that client’s tip. What they cannot do is take a distribution from the pooled tips of the rest of the team. This is why the working assistant manager template separates the two revenue lines: personal service tips stay with the person who did the work, and pool participation is a decision you make and write down before the first shift.
A slow day does not open the pool back up
The test turns on primary duty, and primary duty is judged on the character of the job as a whole rather than shift by shift. An assistant manager who spends Tuesday entirely behind the chair because two stylists called out has not become a non-supervisor for that day. Salons sometimes try to solve the problem by putting the role in the pool only on service-heavy weeks, which does not work and creates a payroll record that documents the issue. Decide the role, decide the tip answer, and keep it stable. This is general information, not legal advice.
Our guide to tip pooling rules works through valid and invalid pool structures in more detail. The short version for a salon owner: write the pool participants into a policy, exclude anyone who meets the supervisor duties test, and have every participant sign the policy at onboarding rather than agreeing to it verbally at the front desk.
Overtime and the Working Assistant Manager
Classify a salon assistant manager as non-exempt unless you can point to all four parts of the executive exemption. The executive exemption regulation requires a salary of at least $684 per week, management as the primary duty, customarily and regularly directing two or more employees, and real weight in hiring and firing. Most salon assistant managers fail at least one.
Commission does not change the answer, and neither does the title. If the person is non-exempt, every hour counts: chair hours, floor hours, pre-open setup, post-close cleaning, and travel between locations once the shift has started. Our breakdown of exempt versus non-exempt classification walks the tests, and the Fair Labor Standards Act overview covers the underlying framework.
The question
Which test answers it
Typical answer for a salon assistant manager
Do I owe overtime past 40 hours?
Full executive exemption: salary of $684 per week plus the duties test
Usually yes. Most are hourly and non-exempt.
Can they share in the tip pool?
Federal tip definition: the same duties test with the salary part removed
Often no, if they run the shift and their hiring input carries weight.
Can they keep tips from their own clients?
The direct-service rule in the tip regulations
Yes, for a service they directly and solely provide.
Does a slow week change the tip answer?
Primary duty, judged on the job as a whole
No. The role is judged as a whole, not shift by shift.
Do they need a cosmetology license?
Your state board
Only if they personally provide services.
Can I pay a flat salary and stop tracking hours?
FLSA recordkeeping
No. Non-exempt staff need hours tracked whatever the pay method.
Does calling the role manager settle anything?
None of the above
No. Every test turns on actual duties and actual pay.
The Split-Role Overtime Trap
A working assistant manager paid commission for services and hourly for floor time is the single most common overtime error in salons. The two pay types do not run on separate clocks. All hours worked in the week add together for the 40 hour threshold, and the overtime premium is calculated on the regular rate for that week, which blends both pay types. Set this up correctly in your timekeeping before the first shift, because reconstructing it afterward from a paper schedule is close to impossible. Confirm the mechanics with a payroll professional for your state.
License and Screening Language Every Salon Posting Needs
A cosmetology license is required to perform the service, not to supervise the people performing it. So the license line in your posting turns entirely on one question: does this role touch clients? A non-service assistant manager or front desk lead usually needs no credential, while a working assistant manager needs a current license in good standing.
Two adjacent points belong in the posting. Your salon itself may need an establishment license separate from any individual credential, and worker classification in salons is heavily scrutinized: treating a stylist as an independent booth renter when they function as an employee carries real penalties in several states. Confirm both with your state cosmetology board. For barbershop roles, the barber job description templates carry the equivalent language.
What to Pay a Hair Salon Assistant Manager
There is no federal occupation for salon assistant managers, so start from the nearest classification and adjust for your market. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not break the role out separately in its wage survey, which means every published figure you see is either a broader supervisor category or an aggregate that folds tips and commission into base pay.
Nearest Federal Classification: About $23 an Hour
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), first-line supervisors of personal service workers, the category that covers salon and spa supervisors, had a national median wage of $48,590 a year, or $23.36 an hour. The percentile ladder runs from $34,010 at the 10th and $39,050 at the 25th, up through $61,100 at the 75th and $75,330 at the 90th (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates). No BLS occupation matches the title exactly.
Nearest BLS occupation (OEWS, May 2025)
Median annual
Median hourly
How it maps to the role
First-line supervisors of personal service workers
$48,590
$23.36
Closest match: covers salon and spa supervisors
First-line supervisors of retail sales workers
$48,520
$23.33
Fits an assistant manager who mostly runs retail and the desk
Barbers
$38,210
$18.37
Use this for a barbershop assistant manager benchmark
Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists
$35,790
$17.21
The base a working assistant manager gives up chair time for
Manicurists and pedicurists
$35,760
$17.19
Relevant in a combined hair and nail salon
Receptionists and information clerks
$38,010
$18.27
The tier below a front desk lead
General and operations managers
$105,770
$50.85
The ceiling of a multi-location ladder, not a benchmark
Set the assistant manager rate above your front desk rate and below your salon manager rate, then add a retail or shift bonus that pays for the behavior you want. If the role is a working one, price the chair hours and the floor hours separately in the offer, and confirm the commission structure in writing with a commission agreement. A promotion that quietly cuts someone’s income is the fastest way to lose them.
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Most salon assistant managers are internal promotions, and most internal promotions fail in the same three places: the math, the paperwork, and the handoff. Each has a fix that costs an afternoon.
You promoted your best stylist and lost your best stylist
The most common assistant manager hire in a hair salon is an internal promotion, and the most common mistake is treating it as a reward rather than a different job. A stylist with a full book earns on services and tips. Move them to the floor and their service income drops on day one while their responsibilities go up, which is how a promotion turns into a resignation two months later. Fix it in the posting: state how many hours stay behind the chair, state the hourly rate or stipend for management hours, and state what happens to the clients they cannot keep. If you cannot make the math work, hire from the front desk instead, or make the role part-time on the floor and leave the book intact.
The job description was a verbal conversation, so nobody can point to it
Salon promotions tend to happen in the back room between clients: more responsibility, a bit more per hour, and a handshake. Six weeks later there is a disagreement about whether the assistant manager can approve a refund, send someone home early, or take a share of the tip pool, and there is nothing to point at. A written job description is not corporate overhead here, it is the only record of what you both agreed. Write down the authority limits specifically: the refund ceiling, who can be sent home, who approves time off, what the key holder is responsible for at close, and the tip answer. Those five lines prevent most of the arguments this role produces.
Onboarding a manager is not the same as onboarding a stylist, and nothing is written down
A new assistant manager needs more than a W-4 and a locker. They need system access, the opening and closing procedure, the refund policy, the sanitation checklist, license verification for anyone providing services, the timekeeping process they will now approve, and a signed acknowledgment of the tip and overtime policy you just settled. In a salon that is usually a folder behind the desk and a manager’s memory. FirstHR was built for owners in exactly this position: the onboarding wizard runs the same sequence for every hire, e-signature handles the offer and the policy acknowledgments, document management stores cosmetology licenses with renewal dates attached, and training modules cover sanitation and standards before the first shift. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll provider.
Once the role change is agreed, run it through the same sequence as an outside hire: a written offer or role change letter, signed acknowledgment of the overtime and tip policy, system access, and a first-weeks plan. Our onboarding checklist covers the general sequence, and the general assistant manager templates are useful if you also run a retail arm or a second business.
Key Takeaways
An assistant manager owns the day and the salon manager owns the business: floor, book, retail, and close on one side, hiring, pay, and profit and loss on the other.
The role is almost always non-exempt, because the executive exemption requires a salary of at least $684 per week plus management as the primary duty, direction of two or more employees, and weight in hiring.
The federal tip definition of manager or supervisor uses the same duties test without the salary floor, so an hourly non-exempt assistant manager can still be barred from sharing the tip pool.
A manager or supervisor may keep tips a client gives them directly for a service they directly and solely provide, which is why working assistant managers need the two revenue lines separated in writing.
The nearest federal classification (BLS OEWS, May 2025) is first-line supervisors of personal service workers at a $48,590 median, with no BLS occupation matching the title exactly.
A cosmetology license attaches to performing the service, not to supervising it, so state the requirement based on whether the role touches clients.
Salon hiring lives in a folder behind the front desk until it does not. FirstHR runs the same onboarding sequence for every hire, with e-signature for the offer and the tip and overtime acknowledgment, document storage for cosmetology licenses with renewal dates attached, and training modules for sanitation and standards before the first shift. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a hair salon assistant manager do?
A hair salon assistant manager runs the floor day to day and covers the salon manager’s days off, without owning the budget or the hiring roster. The core duties are the appointment book (filling gaps, handling no-shows, rebalancing walk-ins), supervising the stylists and coordinators on shift, greeting and recovering clients, running retail and inventory, enforcing state board sanitation standards, and opening or closing the salon as a key holder. Most also verify the team’s hours before payroll close and report weekly numbers to the manager: rebook rate, retail per ticket, prebooked hours. In smaller salons the role usually keeps a reduced client book alongside the management hours, which is a genuinely different job from the non-service version and needs a different job description.
Is a hair salon assistant manager exempt or non-exempt?
Almost always non-exempt, meaning hourly and entitled to overtime past 40 hours in a workweek. To be exempt under the executive exemption a position has to clear all four parts of the test: a salary of at least $684 per week ($35,568 a year), management as the primary duty, customarily and regularly directing the work of two or more other employees, and authority to hire or fire or recommendations that carry particular weight. Most salon assistant managers fail the salary part, and many fail the duties part because the salon manager or owner makes the hiring calls. A manager title on the schedule settles nothing. If the position does not clear every part, track hours and pay overtime. This is general information, not legal advice.
Can a salon assistant manager share in the tip pool?
Often not, and this is the rule salons most commonly get wrong. Federal law bars employers from keeping employee tips for any purpose, including allowing managers or supervisors to keep any portion of them, and the regulation separately bars managers and supervisors from receiving tips out of a tip pool. The definition of manager or supervisor for this purpose is a duties test: management as the primary duty, regularly directing two or more employees, and real weight in hiring decisions. Critically, that definition drops the salary requirement, so an hourly non-exempt assistant manager can still be a supervisor who cannot share the pool. They may keep tips a client gives them directly for a service they directly and solely provided. Decide the answer before you post the job and confirm it for your salon.
How much should I pay a hair salon assistant manager?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), first-line supervisors of personal service workers, the nearest federal classification to a salon assistant manager, had a national median wage of $48,590 a year or $23.36 an hour, with the 10th percentile at $34,010 and the 90th at $75,330. The BLS does not publish a separate occupation for salon assistant managers, so treat that as a benchmark rather than a market rate. In practice most salons set the assistant manager rate above the front desk rate and below the salon manager rate, then add a retail or shift bonus. If the role is a working one, price the chair hours and the floor hours separately so the person can see what they are giving up and what they are gaining.
Does a salon assistant manager need a cosmetology license?
Only if the role personally provides services. A cosmetology, barbering, or esthetics license is required by state boards to perform the service, not to supervise the people performing it, so a non-service assistant manager or a front desk lead typically does not need one. The moment the role touches a client’s hair, even occasionally at the shampoo bowl, the license requirement attaches. Two related points. Your salon itself may need an establishment license separate from any individual credential, and in a multi-discipline business each service line carries its own credential and its own sanitation standard. Write the license requirement into the posting based on whether the job includes hands-on service, and confirm the specifics with your state cosmetology board.
How do I write a job description for a salon assistant manager I am promoting internally?
Write it before the conversation, not after. Internal salon promotions usually happen verbally between clients, which leaves nothing to point at when a disagreement comes up six weeks later. Put five things in writing: how many hours stay behind the chair, the pay for management hours as distinct from service pay, the authority limits (refund ceiling, who can send someone home, who approves time off), the key holder responsibilities at open and close, and the tip pool answer. Then run the change through the same paperwork as an external hire: an updated offer or role change letter, a signed acknowledgment of the overtime and tip policy, and a start date for the new schedule. FirstHR handles that sequence with e-signature and document management. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
What is the difference between a salon manager and an assistant manager job description?
The dividing line is authority over people and money, not seniority. A salon manager hires and fires, sets pay and hours, owns the profit and loss, and answers to the owner. An assistant manager owns the day: the schedule, the floor, the standards, client recovery, retail, and the building at open and close, working inside limits the manager sets. That difference drives everything else in the posting. The manager version states budget accountability and hiring authority. The assistant version states authority limits, the coverage expectation for the manager’s days off, and the key holder duties. If the person you are describing decides who works at your salon, you are writing a manager posting and should use the salon manager templates instead.
